Is it haram to pluck the eyebrows?

What the prohibition rests on

The ruling is built on a well-known narration. Ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه reported:

"Allah has cursed the women who practise tattooing and the women who get themselves tattooed, the women who pluck eyebrows and the women who have their eyebrows plucked, and the women who file their teeth for beauty, altering the creation of Allah."— Sahih Muslim 2125a, from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

The scholars read namas as the removal of hair from the eyebrows, and the curse — being driven away from Allah's mercy — is what led them to place it among the major sins rather than a minor offence. Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما reported a similar wording listing the woman who plucks and the one who asks another to pluck for her, which al-Albani graded authentic.

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen drew out an important point: a woman who plucks her own eyebrows combines both descriptions in herself — she is the one plucking and the one who sought it done — and the intention behind it makes no difference to the ruling.

"There is no difference between doing it for adornment or being discontent with Allah's creation. Her saying that she did not intend to change Allah's creation — we say: even if she did not intend it, a change to Allah's creation has occurred in a way Allah did not permit."— Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen, Fatawa Nur 'ala al-Darb

Trimming and shaving

This is where the schools part company, and the difference is real.

Al-Mughni records the Hanbali reasoning plainly: the narration came about plucking, and Ahmad said there is no harm in shaving. The Permanent Committee took the opposite line, answering a young woman with very thick eyebrows who had shaved between them and thinned the rest: it is not permissible to shave or thin the eyebrows, because that is the namas the Prophet ﷺ cursed, and she must repent and avoid it in future.

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen's own conclusion sits closer to the stricter view. He noted that some scholars disliked trimming and some forbade it outright, treating namas as general — any change to facial hair made without Allah's permission — and then said that even on the view that it is permitted or merely disliked, a woman should not do it.

When removal is allowed

The scholars carve out a genuine exception, and it is narrower than it is often made to sound.

• Deformity or real disfigurement: Ibn Uthaymeen set out three cases. Eyebrows that are naturally fine and unconnected are left alone and no one is asked about them. Eyebrows that are disfiguring — growing onto the forehead so that anyone who sees them is repelled — may have the disfiguring part removed, but by cutting or with a depilatory cream, not by plucking. Eyebrows that are neither beautiful nor disfiguring are not to be changed at all.
• Obstruction of sight: Ibn Baz and Ibn Uthaymeen both allowed cutting hair that has grown so long it hangs into the eye or interferes with vision — cutting only what overhangs.
• Hair between the eyebrows: The Permanent Committee ruled that plucking the hair between the two eyebrows is permitted, since it is not part of the eyebrows themselves.
• Other facial hair: The Committee also allowed a woman to remove hair on the upper lip, thighs, legs and arms, and hair that grows in unusual places, since this is not the namas that was prohibited.

If it has already been done

IslamWeb notes that if a woman plucked part of her eyebrows while unaware of the prohibition or unmindful of what she was doing, it is hoped that she is not held to account for that. What is required going forward is to stop, and to repent for what was done knowingly.

Key takeaways

• Plucking the eyebrows is prohibited and counted among the major sins, because the Prophet ﷺ cursed the one who does it and the one who has it done.
• Intending only to look better, or not intending to "change Allah's creation," does not change the ruling — the change occurs regardless of motive.
• Trimming and shaving are disputed: the Hanbalis permitted them, while the Malikis, Shafi'is and the Permanent Committee prohibited them; Ibn Uthaymeen advised avoiding it in any case.
• Removal is allowed only for genuine disfigurement or hair obstructing the sight, and then by cutting rather than plucking.
• Hair between the eyebrows, and hair on the upper lip, legs, arms and other unusual places, may be removed.

Further reading

• al-Mughni, Ibn Qudamah — on namas and the Hanbali position on shaving
• Fatawa Nur 'ala al-Darb, Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen
• Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da'imah — rulings on plucking, trimming and facial hair

And Allah knows best.